Ex-Congo minister sentenced to 10 years in absentia

BRAZZAVILLE - A court in Congo-Brazzaville has sentenced a former government minister to ten years in prison on charges of violating state security and being complicit in the illegal possession of weapons. According to the indictment, Jean-Martin Mbemba currently lives in France and wanted to "organise a popular insurrection in 2013". He was sentenced on Friday in absentia. The former ally of long-serving President Denis Sassou Nguesso had held numerous positions in the Republic of the Congo government between 1997 and 2012, including justice minister.